Choice Kiwi Cuts 2019: Nadia Reid - Best Thing

The tenth and final Choice Kiwi Cut of 2019 is a taster for 2020 really, and the greatly anticipated new Nadia Reid album, Out of my Province, set to be released in March. If it’s half as good as her 2017 effort, Preservation, we’ll be in for a real treat. Here’s ‘Best Thing’ …

Choice Kiwi Cuts 2019: Leisure - Too Much of a Good Thing

I don’t mind admitting I’m a bit of a sucker for the pure pop of Leisure. The band’s single, ‘Too Much of a Good Thing’ is one part funky disco, one part dreamy synthpop, and one part chill. But what I like most about it, whether it’s intentional or not, is the way the lightweight groove unrepentantly conjures up recall of yacht rock’s mid-70s heyday. Exactly the sort of thing I spent years trying to avoid. Which is probably why it still sounds so fresh to me.  

Choice Kiwi Cuts 2019: Tami Neilson - Ten Tonne Truck

I’m usually a bit of a genre snob, as you probably know, with country music way down on my list of preferences. Yet I saw Tami Neilson play a live gig in Wellington a few years ago and was blown away by her performance. Such a great voice and stage presence. Aotearoa has always produced its fair share of decent country artists but I’m certain, as the decades pass, there’ll be a point in the future when we look back and declare Neilson our very own Queen of the genre. She’s more than just country though – throw in helpings of blues, rockabilly, and some old fashioned rock n roll. ‘Ten Tonne Truck’ contains elements of all the above, and it was the third and most recent single taster from her forthcoming album, Chickaboom. Look out for that release in early 2020.

Choice Kiwi Cuts 2019: Contenders - Attract/Repel

Hamilton punk band Contenders had a busy year. Firstly with the release of an excellent self-titled seven-track EP in May, and then later in October, with a split-release follow-up alongside the politically-motivated Wellington ragers Unsanitary Napkin. ‘Attract/Repel’ was the single released at the time of the EP, and I loved it for all the hard hitting raw energy the band was able to condense into less than two minutes. Not a bad clip either. Punk’s not dead.

Choice Kiwi Cuts 2019: Israel Starr & Troy Kingi - Let It Be

I’m cheating here, including this on a 2019 list, because so far as I know, Israel Starr and Troy Kingi’s collaborative effort, ‘Let It Be’, was released in December of 2018. But, well, you know. What’s a month or so between friends, right? It’s summer down here at the bottom of the world, and this one is a certified funky summer jam dripping with positivity. Which seems like a pretty festive thing to be. I believe the glittery production vibe is mostly Starr, and the soulful vocal is mostly Kingi. 2019 was a big year for Kingi in particular, with the release of his Holy Colony Burning Acres album. Which was a successful follow-up to his 2017 breakthrough release, Shake Your Skinny Ass All The Way To Zygertron, quite possibly the finest space-funk album we've ever seen in these parts.  

Choice Kiwi Cuts 2019: Miss June - Anomaly

Of all the gigs I attended in 2019, few captured the spirit of raw rock n roll quite like Miss June’s mid-year set at Wellington’s Meow. It may have been a midweek gig, I can’t recall, but I do know I wasn’t feeling particularly up for it. No problem: the band quickly won me over with its adrenalin-infused version of homegrown punk and obligatory wild stage antics. At one point, vocalist Annabel Liddell was swinging from the rafters, or more specifically, the ceiling-mounted lighting trusses, and it felt like everyone in the room was on the verge of rioting just for the sheer hell of it. Good times. The band's best known track is probably 'Best Girl', but I think footage from this clip for 'Anomaly' - an album cut from their Bad Luck Party debut - perhaps best captures the band's live energy.

Choice Kiwi Cuts 2019: Rory Storm - Greta Thunberg addresses the UN

I know very little about Wellington producer Rory Storm, but I thought his Greta Thunberg UN address edit/remix was something quite special. This tension-driven pulsing electronic track captured the sense of urgency and requisite feelings of angst Thunberg’s words demanded. And yes, high profile dude Fatboy Slim did something similar, which garnered way more social media attention, but don’t sleep on Storm’s effort, which flew well under the radar. There’s no YouTube clip for this one so I’ve included a Bandcamp link (name your price).

Choice Kiwi Cuts 2019: Beat Rhythm Fashion - Hard As Hell

If there was an annual gong for the least expected local comeback of the year, you’d be hard pressed to look beyond Beat Rhythm Fashion. Sure, Blam Blam Blam’s barely anticipated late-winter national tour attracted a lot of plaudits, and rightly so, but BRF had already taken things one step further, not only touring in the autumn, but actually releasing an album containing a whole bunch of new material. ‘Hard As Hell’ was the first single culled from the album, Tenterhook, and it became a firm favourite for anyone who witnessed Nino Birch, Rob Mayes, and Caroline Easther play those precious and heartfelt live shows …  

Choice Kiwi Cuts 2019: Pitch Black - One Ton Skank

Pitch Black are firm local favourites of this blog. 2019 saw the dynamic techno-dub duo return with yet another extraordinary album, Third Light, and while I could probably lift any track from that set to feature here, ‘One Ton Skank’ perhaps best represents everything that makes Pitch Black so special. These guys continue to stay one step ahead of the chasing pack ...

Choice Kiwi Cuts 2019: Aldous Harding - The Barrel

As we approach the end of every year and our lives are propelled into the chaos that tends to align itself with the festive season, everythingsgonegreen likes to reflect on the year that was. Before things get too mad and overwhelming to the extent that blogging becomes a mere afterthought. For a few years there was a countdown of the tracks which enjoyed the most pod-time on your blogger’s device, regardless of origin or genre, but last year I narrowed the scope to include only clips or tracks from artists based in New Zealand or those at least, who identified as “Kiwi” artists. That seemed to work quite well, so I’ll stick with that for 2019’s countdown. I’ll try to post ten favourites between now and the end of the year. 

Therefore, it makes absolute sense to start this year’s set with the tune that won the 2019 APRA Silver Scroll award; Aldous Harding’s weird and wonderful ‘The Barrel’, one of those tunes that tended to grow in stature the more I listened to it. A bit of a creeper, if you like ...